Northwest Digest

KETCHIKAN - A Ketchikan man has been charged with sharing methamphetamine with a minor, then sexually assaulting and threatening her.

David C. Nordlund, 26, was charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual abuse of a minor, misconduct involving a controlled substance, assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was arrested last week and bail was set at $100,000.

Alaska State Troopers said the crimes were committed in early September and that their investigation began Nov. 28.

The 13-year-old girl told troopers that Nordlund gave her methamphetamine, then asked if she would have sex with him, according to Sgt. Bryan Barlow.

The girl refused and Nordlund grabbed her by the hair and slapped her in the face, Barlow said in an affidavit.

"Nordlund also told (the victim) several times that if she did not comply with what he wanted her to do, he would 'bury her in the back yard,"' Barlow wrote.

Nordlund in interviews with troopers before his arrest denied anything happened between him and the teen, troopers said.

Woman accused of trying to kill trooper

KENAI - A Soldotna woman has been charged with aiming a loaded handgun at an Alaska State Trooper and pulling the trigger. The gun failed to fire, said trooper Sgt. James Truesdell.

Annette Victorien, 44, was charged with attempted murder in the incident early Saturday morning. She also was charged with four counts of assault on a police officer and misconduct involving weapons.

Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said four officers went to Victorien's home at 3:34 a.m. Saturday after taking a report that she was suicidal.

Trooper Larry Erickson approached Victorien and tried to calm her down. She stepped behind a couch and pulled out a handgun, Wilkinson said.

"She pointed it at Trooper Erickson from about five feet away and pulled the trigger and the hammer fell with a click," Wilkinson said.

Truesdell said Victorien was under the influence of alcohol and that she might not have known how to operate the gun.

Searchers battle Mount Hood weather

COOPER SPUR, Ore. - A break in the miserable weather on the snowy flanks of Mount Hood didn't help searchers looking for three missing climbers on Tuesday, as the rescue teams again fought high winds and blowing snow and worried about avalanche dangers.

Rescue teams have been combing the upper elevations of Oregon's tallest mountain since Monday, in search of three experienced climbers who vanished on the weekend.

The last anyone heard from the climbers was on Sunday, when one, 48-year-old Kelly James, used his cell phone from a snow cave to say the group was in trouble.